What is ‘baby weight?’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that women within a healthy weight range who are carrying one baby gain 11.5 to 16 kg during pregnancy.
Weight gains for expectant people who are underweight, overweight, or carrying multiple babies are different. Your healthcare providers may also have a different recommendation based on your own needs.
According to research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology , pregnancy weight gain consists of:
the baby
placenta
amniotic fluid
breast tissue
blood
uterus enlargement
extra fat stores
The extra fat acts as an energy reserve for the birth and breastfeeding. However, excess weight gain can result in too much fat. This is what people generally refer to as “baby weight,” and it’s very common.
Nearly half of all pregnant women gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy, according to the CDC.
The consequences of keeping on some of this extra weight after pregnancy include:
increased risk of being overweight
heightened risk of diabetes and heart disease
greater risk of complications during pregnancy
higher health risks for women with gestational diabetes
The following list provides evidence-based tips to help you lose the extra pounds.
Tips to help lose baby weight
1. Keep your goals realistic
Depending on how much weight you gained during pregnancy, it is realistic to expect that over the next 1 to 2 years you could lose around 4.5 kg. If you gained more weight, you may find you end up heavier than you were pre-pregnancy.
Of course, with a good eating plan and exercise, you should be able to achieve any healthy level of weight loss that your doctor gives the thumbs up.
2. Don’t crash diet
Crash diets are very low-calorie diets which aim to make you lose a large amount of weight in the shortest amount of time possible .After delivering a baby, your body needs good nutrition to heal and recover. If you are breastfeeding, you require more calories than normal.
A low-calorie diet is likely to be lacking in important nutrients and will probably leave you feeling tired. This is the opposite of what you need when taking care of a newborn, and when you are likely sleep deprived.
Assuming your weight is currently stable, decreasing your calorie intake by about 500 calories per day will stimulate safe weight loss of about 0.5 kg per week. This amount of weight loss is considered safe for breastfeeding women
3. Breastfeed if you can
Breastfeeding your baby during the first 6 months of life (or much longer) has many benefits for both you and your baby:
Provides nutrition: Breast milk contains all the nutrients a baby needs to grow and thrive in the first 6 months of life, according to the .
Supports the baby’s immune system: Breast milk also contains important antibodies that help your baby fight viruses and bacteria.
Lowers the risk of disease in infants: Breastfed infants have a lower risk of asthma, obesity, type 1 diabetes, respiratory disease, ear infections, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and gastrointestinal infections.
Reduces the mother’s risk of disease: People who breastfeed have lower risks of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.
Additionally, research has shown that breastfeeding can support your postpartum weight loss. However, in the first 3 months of breastfeeding, you may experience no weight loss or even some weight gain, due to increased calorie needs and intake, as well as reduced physical activity during lactation.
4. Monitor your calorie intake
if you’re finding that eating intuitively just doesn’t seem to be working, monitoring calories can help you work out how much you are eating and where any problem areas in your eating plan may be.
It can also help you ensure you are getting enough calories to provide you with the energy and nutrition you need.
You can do this by:
keeping a food diary
taking pictures of your food as a reminder of what you have eaten
trying a mobile calorie tracking app
Using these techniques can help you reduce your portion sizes and choose healthier foods, which helps with weight loss.
5. Eat foods high in fiber
It’s time to get those healthy grains and veggies on your shopping list. Eating foods that are high in fiber has been shown to help with weight loss. Soluble fiber foods (like these!) may also help you feel fuller for longer by slowing down digestion and reducing hunger hormone levels. These effects on digestion may help reduce calorie intake, though results of studies overall are mixed.
6. Stock up on healthy proteins
Including protein in your diet can boost metabolism, decrease appetite, and reduce calorie intake, according to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Studies show that protein has a greater “thermic” effect than other nutrients. That means that the body uses more energy to digest it than other types of foods, which results in more calories burned.
Healthy protein sources include:
lean meats
eggs
legumes
nuts and seeds
dairy
7. Keep healthy snacks handy
The foods you have around can have a big effect on what you eat. And when you’re searching the pantry for something to munch, a healthy alternative is just the ticket. By stocking up on healthy snacks, you can ensure you have something close at hand when the mood strikes.
Here are some to keep on hand:
cut vegetables
mixed nuts and dried fruit
Greek yogurt and homemade granola
air-popped popcorn
string cheese
seaweed snacks
Research shows that just keeping fruit out on the counter has been associated with a lower body mass index (BMI). Likewise, a comparative study showed that having unhealthy foods out on the counter is associated with increased weight. Pro tip: Keep processed foods and sweets out of the kitchen, or even better, out of the house.
We’re loving these healthy snack ideas for the office, the pantry, or wherever you go.
8. Avoid added sugar and refined carbs
Though they may be tempting, sugar and refined carbs are high in calories and usually low in nutrients. And there are healthy and delicious alternatives.
Research associates a high intake of added sugar and refined carbs with an increase in weight, diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, and even cognitive decline.
Common sources of added sugars include:
sugary drinks
fruit juice
any type of refined sugar
white flour
sweet spreads
cakes
biscuits
pastries
It’s easy to reduce your sugar intake by avoiding processed foods and sticking to whole foods such as vegetables, legumes, fruits, meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and yogurt.
Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/weight-loss-after-pregnancy#takeaway
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